I recently wrote a blog post for Prose and Cons where I dove deeper into the comic book movie war between DC and Marvel. I wanted to know if the common sentiment on the street, that "DC movies suck!" was really true. In order to understand it better, I looked at Rotten Tomatoes (for both critics ratings and the audience rating) and Box Office Mojo (for monetary results). Here's what I found...

Marvel is Winning

Whether or not "DC sucks" is open to debate, but what's not open to debate is the success (both critically and monetarily) of Marvel's movie franchise (all movies produced by and in partnership with Marvel):

MARVEL MOVIES

Since the year 2000, Marvel comic book movies have averaged a score of 62.4% from critics and 67.8% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The average score increases within the last three years. But the real kicker is the box office results: $3.39 billion dollars in sales.

DC MOVIES

DC hasn't fared quite as well, though the results are mixed. Since the year 2000, their comic book movies have averaged a score of 56.2% from critics and 68.8% from audiences (you'll note that this is higher than Marvel!) on Rotten Tomatoes. The biggest problem is the last three years. Critics have not liked DC's movies at all, despite audience support. And, they've earned less than a third of the revenue Marvel has earned, but that's primarily due to the number of films each company has been a part of (Marvel has produced far more films).

Top Films from DC and Marvel

What are the top five films from DC and Marvel since the year 2000? I'm glad you asked. Here's the list according to critics (based on Rotten Tomatoes ratings):

The Dark Knight (DC) - 94%

Iron Man (Marvel) - 94%

Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel) - 91% (tie)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (Marvel) - 91% (tie)

Captain America: Civil War (Marvel) - 90%

The critics definitely prefer Marvel. Here are the top five films from Marvel and DC since the year 2000 as rated by audiences (also from Rotten Tomatoes):